Good for you Audrey!

Audrey managed to get herself COMPLETELY dressed and ready for school yesterday...no help from mom! That included tying her own shoes! Last year we had velcro sneakers. But this year we "graduated" to tie shoes...how else are you gonna learn, right? So after 7 days of school and a few demonstrations from not only mom but, apparently, some friends at school too, Audrey's done it! Now if she could only cook herself breakfast and pack her own lunch! Soon enough, right?

Green Idea of the Week

I know, I know, I have been slacking off on these...vacation got me out of my routine. But here is one for this week. Buy cloth napkins! Some of you may think this costs more money, but you keep buying paper ones, right? You can get a four pack of nice cloth napkins at Target or Linens-N-Things for $6-10. Or, for "everyday" cloth napkins, you can do what I did...get a 6-pack of flour sack towels (in the same aisle as kitchen towels) for $4, cut them each in half twice, bind the edges, and wa-la! You've got 24 cloth napkins!

Sting Ray Bay

This last Saturday our family went to Fresno's Chaffee Zoo to visit the temporary exhibit, Sting Ray Bay. It was AMAZING! For those of you who have not gone, young and old, you should go. It is only here until September 30th! Violet has a love/hate relationship with water, and that day she did NOT want to get near the pool. But Audrey and Isaac loved it! Randy and Uncle Kevin got a chance to feed them too! The amazing things God has created! WOW! We also enjoyed the rest of the zoo, like we always do. However, we spent so much time touching the sting rays, we didn't even get around to see everything else before it got too hot. We made a picnic under the huge eucalyptus trees in Roeding Park and enjoyed the shade before heading home. Another "touch" exhibit with animal bones, eggs, skins, and other things! Violet's feeling chinchilla fur. Waiting to touch a sting ray. More waiting. Randy helping Isaac hold a fish in his hand for the sting ray to take. Audrey wasn't interested in holding a little dead fish...she watched Uncle Kevin hold it out for the sting rays. Violet didn't mind touching the animals in the petting zoo at all! Enjoying a picnic lunch!

First day of school!

That time is here again...yup, school started today! Audrey was the first one ready to go this morning at 7:20 (which tells you how excited she was...since she's the slow-poke of the family). Randy was ready shortly after, and out the door at 7:30 to help with cross-guard duty in front of the school (every Monday morning). And the rest of us finished dressing and eating hurriedly and got out the door by 7:45...plenty of time to walk the 3/4 mile to Robinson Elementary! Audrey is very excited to start first grade! She has a great teacher, Mrs. Elkins (from what I've heard) and has already decided that recess if her favorite part of the day (because that's when she sees Catlin and Veronica...her two best friends from last year that ended up in different classes this year). I am so glad to have a kid that is EXCITED to go to school and learn...I pray it stays that way for many years to come!
Some other news...Isaac enjoyed his first trip to the dentist this past week. He was a VERY good boy, sitting and waiting his turn while I got my teeth cleaned first. He also had plenty of time to talk to me and the hygenist (since I couldn't talk back or tell him to be quiet). He had fun looking out the window into the fish pond and commenting over and over about touching the fish, or feeding the fish. Then he proceeded to tell a huge story about how his dad goes fishing all the time and then we clean and cook and eat the fish (Randy DOESN'T fish). But dad won't take him because he's not old enough yet, maybe when he's 16, no, maybe when he's an adult because (and I quote) "when you put the hooker in the water, the fish swim kinda slow towards it, and they're not sure what to do". The hygenist and I both got quite a laugh out of that. She had to stop cleaning my teeth for a good two minutes. Isaac didn't seem to think twice...we laugh at/with him often enough.
Violet is talking up a storm too these days. Oh-nee is her word for most things. Some words are distinguishable though. Oh-see is horse, ees is please, mommy, daddy, and uh-oh are pretty clear, and lolly for Charlotte. So, that's it, 6 words, and a whole lot of jabbering. It's definitely progress though...it's awful hard to get a word in edgewise in this family!

Our second week of vacation

As promised, here's the "report" and pictures of our second week on the road. Randy started off the week by going out golfing with my dad and two other guys from the church. They had a really fun time (from what I hear) on a really hard course (the "rough" was mostly four foot high bushes...Randy lost about 15 balls) in some sticky hot weather (almost 100 degrees with way more humidity than we're used to). My mom and I stayed at the farmhouse with the kids and just relaxed. Tuesday, my dad had to be at work all day with meetings and such, so Randy and I decided to give my mom a day off and headed to Wichita with the kids (about an hour drive). We visited the Exploration Place. It's a science museum with four different exhibit halls, a toddler play-place, a theater, and a café for lunch. The kids LOVED it! One exhibit was geared completely for kids, a Medieval Castle, three-stories high, that kids could explore up and down (the above picture is Violet on the pony "roller-coaster"). It had a dressing room with about 30 different costumes for the kids to try on, a stage complete with puppets to do a show, a kitchen with play food, dishes, and a brick oven, a puzzle room, an astrology room, a music room, and more! Audrey's favorite was the ponies you could ride on in front of the castle. Isaac just loved running up and down and through everything! Randy's favorite was the flight exhibit (Wichita, Kansas is considered the Air Capital of the World). This is a picture of him on a simulator for the Wright brothers' first glider. It was a great place to visit for the day and since the exhibits change every couple months, it will be fun to go again next time we visit Kansas! Wednesday (our last full day in Kansas) we visited Dillon Nature Center in Hutchinson (about 15 minutes drive). It was really beautiful! It had one indoor exhibit about the Kansas prairies (it's land, weather and animals) and then an outdoor pond, stocked with fish, and surrounded by LOTS of plants, all labeled. The kids really enjoyed it! Here we are exploring "under the prairies". Grandpa Bruce and Isaac with some animal bones! Watching the ducks by the pond. Grandpa Bruce helping Violet by the river. For our last lunch together, we drove to Roy's BBQ! My dad took us there for lunch when we first got into town, and it was so good Randy wanted to go back for more before we left (as if we hadn't had enough red meat to eat in the past 2 weeks)! AMAZING...just like the first time (their pulled pork and beef ribs are superb)! And for our final event of our Kansas trip we enjoyed a rip-roarin' thunderstorm that evening! Just that morning I had mentioned to my mom, "I can't believe we haven't seen any lightning or thunderstorms yet". That afternoon Audrey was out on the lawnmower with Grandpa when we started seeing lightning in the distance...and it kept coming closer! We got a good storm! Seventy miles per hour winds, huge bolts of lightning reaching from the clouds to the ground, and walls of rain you could see coming from miles away! What a great ending to our time in Kansas! Well, Thursday morning we woke up, packed up, and started the trek home! As I said in our previous post, we got through Colorado on Thursday, and then drove the rest of the way home on Friday. We did stop a bit through Utah on our way home though. Us at the Black Dragon Canyon overlook. The kiddos in front of ancient petroglyphs in the Sego Canyon. Audrey at the Kolob Canyon overlook in Zion National Park (north entrance). From this overlook we took a short 1/2 mile hike to a higher point where you could supposedly see the Kaibab plateau (the north rim of the Grand Canyon) on a clear day. Not sure if we really saw all the way to the Grand Canyon, but it was a good break and exercise before our final stretch home! So...after driving more than 4400 miles, through 8 states, seeing 44 out of 50 state license plates, and more cows and corn fields than you can count, our 15-day summer road trip comes to a close. With Randy going back to work today, Audrey starting first grade next week, and church activities starting after Labor Day, our life will settle back into a routine, and we'll stay close to home for the next 10 months. Wonder where we'll go next year?

We're home!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we made it home safe and sound. We left Kansas on Thursday morning and drove to Grand Junction, Colorado (the last stop before entering Utah) for the night. Yesterday morning we woke up bright and early and headed out to see the sights of Utah. We stopped quite a bit along the way at scenic turnoffs, historic sights, and a quick drive into Zion National Park. We made it to Saint George (at the very south-west point of Utah) by 5:15 p.m. We thought this would be our stopping point for the night...buy it was still so early! So we ate a quick dinner at Cracker Barrel (YUM!) and got back on the road. By 8 p.m. we were looking at the lights of Las Vegas! No way we're stopping now! With a quick stop for gas and to get the kids in their pajamas, we got back in for the long haul! At 2:45 a.m. we pulled into our garage...HOME! A big thank you to all who were praying for our safe travels! We had a wonderful time and I will post pictures of our second week of vacation in the next couple days!

We're doin' fine!

So much traveling...these are pictures from the trip OUT to Kansas. A picnic in the van (we tried to eat all our meals with food we brought along in our ice chest to keep it healthy and also save money). This picture’s for Mikey (taken in Albequerque)...we found Chihuahua cheese at a Wal-Mart here in South Kansas too! Already made quesadillas with it...YUM! Here’s some pictures of the kiddos playing out on the farmhouse this past week.
Audrey and Violet with Mom's dog, Emily. The kids shucking corn from the Goeddert's farm.Violet with Grandpa at the elementary school's playground. Last night we enjoyed a potluck with some other families from my parent’s church (Buhler Mennonite Bretheren). It was other couples my parents’ age, so there weren’t any kids around. But the family that hosted had some playground equipment they’d made when their kids were young. The ferris wheel was the highlight of the night for the kids! Randy and my dad enjoyed some horseshoes with the guys too. Hard to believe our vacation is already half over. A couple more days here with my parents and then we’ll start our trek home. We decided to drive the northern route through Colorado and Utah...we haven’t seen the beautiful lands of Utah since our trip to the 2002 Olympics with the Alvey family! We’ll finally get to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks! Hope to keep you posted if we stay in a hotel with free internet. Who knows? Maybe we’ll sleep under the stars somewhere near Escalante...Randy did bring his backpacking tent. We’ll see!

Made it to Kansas!

Sorry we haven't been up to date at posting...but out here in the midwest, life goes at a slightly slower pace. And Wifi spots can be hard to locate; although the town of Buhler DOES have a coffee/gift shop that has wireless access, and so does my dad's work, which is where I am right now. Our time in Texas was wonderful! Allison is such an amazing hostess! We drove in Sunday afternoon and Kevin BBQed some chicken while the kids played in the sprinklers in the front (with FULL coverage of bug spray). We just had a great time relaxing and catching up. Monday, Allison drove us by the school where she works on the way to a cool waterpark where we could have a picnic lunch and the kids could keep cool. Randy and I even got under some of the sprinklers too. It was only 90 degrees, but the humidity makes it yucky muggy. Violet had NO interest in getting in the water. She screamed when I got her even close. At about 2 o'clock we heard some thunder and Allison said, "That's our cue", so we packed up and drove home. We stayed inside while the thunderstorm passed over...crazy Texas weather! For dinnertime she and Kevin took us to eat at The County Line BBQ. Jason Wichert joined us there as well. We had a great table by the window, which overlooked the lake...but the view, although great, was not as amazing as the food. WOW! Randy enjoyed the 5 meat special, although wasn't quite able to finish the whole thing. I chose the pork ribs, which Allison said were the best...YUM! After dinner, the boys decided to work off some of their meal by playing a round of disc golf. They got on their long sleeves and pants (even though it was still quite warm and sticky), and sprayed all over with bug spray before leaving to trudge through the grassy course. They only made it halfway through the course before they couldn't see their frisbees anymore and headed back. The five of us sat around at the house until after midnight just chatting and having some laughs comparing Fresno and Dallas drivers (they like to drive FAST in Texas!). Allison made some delicious Texas sheet cake for dessert too! Thank you so much Kevin and Allison for letting us stay in your home! We were so excited to be able to make the trip out to see you! Tuesday morning we safely drove north to my parents' house in Kansas. We've been relaxing with them since. I'll try to post more pictures soon.